


River as Dark

by Highlander_II



Category: Suits (TV), The Pretender
Genre: Community: intoabar, Crossover, Dubious Consent, Flashbacks, Gen, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 23:22:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3873772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Highlander_II/pseuds/Highlander_II
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his way to a client meeting, Harvey has a run-in with a bad memory.</p><p> </p><p>The dubious consent is mostly alluded to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	River as Dark

"Harvey, what's wrong?" Donna asked as they entered the hotel lobby. This was supposed to be a quick meeting with a client. Donna was along to help with documentation. And, Harvey said he would take her to dinner if she didn't make him bring Harold. (Mike was currently being monopolized by Louis' big case.)

When Harvey froze in place for longer than a couple seconds, Donna grew concerned. "Harvey?"

He blinked and shook his head a bit as though clearing cobwebs. "Let's go," he said.

Donna didn't let him take another step before she stopped him. "No. What's going on?"

"Not now, Donna. We don't have time." He tried to push past her, but she pressed a hand against his chest. He sighed. "The man over there," he waved a hand in the vague direction of a small group of men on the other side of the lobby. Three men in suits, one with his hand resting on the handle of an oxygen tank trolley. "He…"

Donna frowned deeply at her boss. The man didn't lose his words – ever. But something was affecting him. She directed Harvey out of the line of sight of the man in question.

"Harvey?" she asked gently.

Harvey leaned against a wall, trying to pull himself together. This wasn't like him. He didn't lose his confident exterior just seeing someone from his past. "His name is Raines," he began. "And there is something seriously fucked up with him."

Donna blinked at Harvey in shock. "You've never mentioned him before." Her brow bent in a deep frown. "I've never seen anyone get to you like this."

"I blocked it out," he said flatly. It was something he'd rather not remember. It was something he thought would never come up again. He blew out a breath. "I was at NYU. I needed some extra cash, so I found one of those medical trial ads." He stopped and took a moment to breathe. This was going to be difficult to get through.

Donna rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Harvey, it's okay. You know you can tell me anything."

He nodded stiffly at her. "Not here."

She gave a nod back, then found a small meeting room that had been left open. She guided him in and to a chair. A bottle of water appeared from her handbag that she placed on the table for him. She settled into another chair and waited patiently for him to speak.

Harvey took several deep breaths before he began to recount the experience:

**[ 15 years ago ]**

"You want me to do what?" he asked the mirror where he knew the scientist was lurking and giving instructions. He'd watched enough TV to know how to spot a two-way mirror.

He heard the mic open, then breathing, followed by the raspy voice, "You have your instructions." Then the mic keyed off.

Harvey glanced across the room to the young woman reclined on the bed that filled that side of the small room. He looked back over his shoulder at the mirrored wall. It was directly across from the bed, the angles perfect for watching whatever went on there.

Voyeurism wasn't really an issue for him. Nor was the mirror. But the clinical, matter-of-fact tone combined with the seemingly sadistic approach of the man behind the mirror – Raines he'd said his name was – made him leery.

"I don't think I can do this," Harvey said to the mirror.

"You can quit, Mr. Specter," the voice wheezed through the intercom, "but you will have to return the advance."

Harvey considered his situation carefully – very carefully – before he tugged his t-shirt over his head and took a step toward the bed. The woman didn't react much, but she seemed to take notice of his athletic physique with interest. It made him preen a little. And appreciate his workouts more.

Then the woman waved a finger, beckoning him closer. He pressed a knee onto the mattress, leaning over to drop his mouth to the warm, fragrant skin of her throat. She purred – rumbled, actually – under his touch. Her long fingers reached down to unfasten his jeans.

"Are you ready?" she asked, a warm growl in his ear. "Because I am going to ride you until you break."

His whole body seemed to surge forward with desire and need. He had been fitted with high-tech monitoring devices that he wasn't fond of, but they were part of the research. Assuming the devices were sending signals, everything he was experiencing now would be sent to the man behind the mirror.

His brain didn't have time to catch up before he was bodily shoved onto the bed and stripped of the remainder of his clothing. The woman knelt over him and licked her lips as though she was preparing to devour a delicious meal rather than try to fuck him senseless.

He was readily engaged in the activity – the feel of her stockings against his legs; the heat of her body hovering over his groin; the soft scent of cinnamon from whatever fragrance she wore lingering in the air. Then she reached to bind his wrists to the headboard. He froze.

"Hey!" he cried out toward the mirror. "I never agreed to handcuffs! You can't do this!"

It seemed to take an eternity for the mic to key open. "You signed the consent form, Mr. Specter. Did you not read it?"

Was this man high? Of course he'd read it. There had been nothing in the document about bindings. He wouldn't have signed it if there had been.

"Yes, I read it, Mr. Raines," he snarled. "There was no mention of bondage!"

"Mr. Specter, the provision to which you agreed specified that your consent is given for anything you did not list as an absolute 'no'. Bondage was not listed."

Harvey's face flamed red with anger. "Is it possible to amend that list?"

"I'm afraid it's not. The trial has already begun and it would taint the data."

Fucking contracts. "You're an asshole, Raines."

"I have been called worse, Mr. Specter. Now, are you going to continue with the trial, or should I request the return of the advance you were given?"

Harvey, still angry, sighed into the bed. "Just get this over with," he conceded.

The mic keyed off again.

**[ Present Day ]**

Donna blinked in disbelief. "Harvey," she gasped. "My god. What did they do to you?"

He'd been telling most of his story to the carpet between his feet, but he lifted his head to look at Donna. Her heart nearly broke. Something had happened. Definitely something bad. If not fully non-consensual, definitely coerced.

Harvey didn't want to talk about what had happened. Ever. But something compelled him to confide in Donna. He gave her as many of the details of the three-week trial as he could remember. More of them than he thought he could handle repeating.

He told her about the blades and the water. How he tried to get out of being blindfolded. And how he fought against penetration he thought he'd listed as a limit. Every argument he made was met with a reminder of the contract and the advance.

By the end, he had completely forgotten the client meeting he was supposed to be in and had tears streaking his face. Donna was squeezing his hand so tightly even his knuckles were white.

"Harvey," she whispered through tears of her own, "why didn't you ever tell anyone?" She was sure there had to be a reason beyond machismo, especially for Harvey.

He swallowed the painful lump in his throat. "Non-disclosure Agreement," he managed.

Donna rose from her chair and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so, so sorry," she whispered into his hair. He held her back, and she let him cry as much as he felt he needed.

It was a long time before he pulled away and began to put himself back together. Donna helped alleviate the puffiness in his face and smooth out his hair. He grumped through all of it – including her glares. Once she was finished, he looked as close to his usual self as he was likely to get without a healthy dose of sleep.

"Oh shit –"

"I already took care of it."

"Thank you," he said softly.

Donna smiled at him. "Let's get out of here."

In the lobby, Harvey spotted Raines again, only this time, he strode right up to him and broke into his conversation. "I see you're still recruiting for your petting zoo," he said regarding the young man Raines had been speaking with.

Raines wheezed and replied coolly, "You were paid handsomely to be part of that petting zoo as I recall."

"No amount of money is worth what you put me through. And," Harvey said, standing firm, "if it takes a hundred times that, I'll make sure you never do it again."

"No, you won't," Raines growled. "That NDA is airtight. Unbreakable."

A slippery, wicked grin spread over Harvey's face. "No such thing," he said as he turned to walk away.

"You never asked your brother what happened, did you?" he heard Raines wheeze, clearly pleased with himself.

Harvey stopped dead in his tracks. He saw the warning from Donna, but his rage made him ignore it. He turned on his heel and stalked across the floor. He grabbed Raines by the lapels of his ill-fitting suit and shoved him down a side corridor and against a wall, fully ignoring the two hulking men glaring at him and trying to pull him off of their boss. "What the fuck did you do to my brother?"

Raines made a motion that got the hulks to back off as he fought for every molecule of air. The cannula had disengaged from the tank when Harvey had pushed him against the wall. "You didn't even know, did you?"

"Know what?" Harvey snarled.

"Ask him."

Harvey pressed the man harder against the wall. "I'm asking you. For the last time."

"He wasn't as strong as you were. But he was close," Raines said, gasping and coughing between words.

"If you want to breathe again, you'll tell me _everything_."

Raines choked for air. "He went through the same trial you did. He didn't perform as well as you though. But, he was much more accommodating." Another wheezing cough. "Maybe you should have told him."

"Maybe you should stop conducting experiments on unsuspecting kids."

Raines let out an indignant snort. "Everything we do is with full consent, as you know, Mr. Specter."

Harvey shoved Raines harder against the wall again. "Coercion is _not_ consent."

"You had a choice. You chose the money," Raines said and sucked hard to get air into his lungs.

There wasn't a practical way to argue with the weasel. He let the man go and stepped away. "I will put an end to your bullshit, Raines."

The man collected the oxygen tank from one of the hulks and got the tubes reconnected. He took several full breaths before addressing Harvey again. "You are more than welcome to try, Mr. Specter. But you may find your winning streak will come to an end."

Harvey arched an eyebrow. His anger sliding back to manageable levels now. "Intimidation by revealing details of my professional life. That's good."

"There are other secrets we have found, Mr. Specter."

Harvey shook his head. "Reveal whatever you want. I will fight you and I will win."

Raines and his pair of hulks moved around Harvey, the oxygen tank squeaking along behind them. "No, you won't," Raines snarled back. "We have protection in very high places."

"That just means it'll be difficult, not impossible," Harvey countered, standing his ground as Donna appeared at his side.

"Harvey, what are you going to do?" she asked him.

He took a deep breath to minimize the snarl forming on his lips. "I'm going to get that son of a bitch," he growled, a plan already forming; his fingers working his phone with a message to Mike. He blinked up at Donna. "He won't do it again."


End file.
